That is just what is wanted. Your face would have given me heart disease, if I
had seen you. As it is, I will promise you one thing, that I will never tell the
story of that evening; and if you promise that I will keep the secret of it, I
will not speak a word more about it. Don't you think I am a little
unreasonable?""Yes, I do," said I, kissing him. "And now, dear boy, I have
something more to tell you. I have discovered the secret of the stiletto, and I
have brought it away with me. Now, if you will give me your word to keep the
secret, I will never tell any one a word about it, and I will not even mention
it to my dear mother.""What a dear fellow you are, to be sure," said he,
pressing my hand. "But what is the matter with you? Are you going to have a fit
again? You have got another attack, that is plain enough. You have been crying
again,and your face is quite damp. You had better go up to your room, and lie
down, and try to get a little rest.""I don't think I will go to bed yet," said
I. "I have been so much agitated that I am quite faint. If you will give me the
secret of the stiletto, I will keep the secret, whatever it costs me.""Well, I
don't care about telling it you now," said he; "but as I don't think you will
have another attack, I will give you the secret to-night, if you will promise me
to keep the secret, and not tell it to any one else in the world.""I do," said
I, giving him the promise; "and I will not tell a soul else,either.""Well," said
he, "I think you had better go up to your room. I will tell my mother, and she
will give you some drops of the potion I have brought with me. I will come and
see you to-morrow morning, and I will take you into my room to make you a little
more comfortable. But you must promise me to keep this secret, and not to tell a
soul, and not to tell a soul, nor to any living soul, a word about it, as long
as you live,till the time comes, and then you shall never speak of it. Now,
promise me that you will keep the secret."I promised him that I would; and
having given him a little more wine, I left him.I went up to my room, and after
I had had a few more drops of the potion,I threw myself on my bed. I was indeed
greatly agitated. After a while I fell into a deep slumber, from which I was
awakened by the arrival of the elderly gentleman, who, after listening at the
door for a few minutes,came in and shook me by the shoulder."What! up again, my
boy?" said he. "What a long time you have been away!What a confoundedly
mysterious fellow this is!""My dear sir," said I, "do not be angry with me. I am
in a great state of excitement and agitation. I do not know how it is, but I
feel as if I were in a conspiracy against your life. If I do not keep the secret
of the stiletto, I shall not be able to live a day.""My dear boy," said he,
"that is a very foolish sentiment. Don't you see that I am at this moment a
witness of the interest you have excited?Depend upon it, I am fully informed of
every particular. But don't you think you had better go to bed?""I cannot
sleep," said I, "and I am determined not to keep the secret any longer. You must
tell me the whole truth.""Well," said he, "you had better go to bed, but not to
sleep. I will call you at two, and you must get up immediately. If you do not,
you will not be able to keep the secret. But you had better go to bed, and I
will call you at two.""Very well," said I, reluctantly. I was in no condition to
do anything more that night. I went to bed, and in a short time fell asleep.
When I awoke in the morning I found that the old gentleman had been to my room,
and that he had been informing me of the whole story of the stiletto. I told him
what I had done, and begged of him to tell me the whole truth."Very well," said
he. "I will tell you all about it. As you are going to stay here for some time,
you had better get up at two, and make all the necessary arrangements. I will go
out at that hour, and will call you at two, and if you do not keep the secret
then, you may rely upon it, I will kill you instantly."I dressed myself in
haste, and told the old gentleman that I was going out. I then gave him a packet
containing the key of the secret of the stiletto. He looked at it as I handed it
to him, and then he gave it to the old gentleman."It is a very extraordinary
thing," said he, "and I cannot understand it. You say that this is a very
mysterious story, and that you will certainly have great difficulty in keeping
the secret; but as it has been brought to light by the discovery of a very
extraordinary piece of evidence, and as you are a stranger in this part of the
country, and as you have very considerable pecuniary claims upon me, and as it
is necessary that you should know the secret, I will make up a little secret of
it for you. I will give you a small sum, which you can draw out of my bank, for
the use of the secret. I will also give you a small amount of money to purchase
the necessary articles, which you can purchase yourself, but you must get them
at a respectable shop. I will give you a cheque for the amount. I will also tell
you the name of the person to whom this money is to be paid.""What name is
that?" said I."The name of the person to whom you are to pay this money is not
mentioned in the account, but it will be ready to your hand in a few
days'time.You must be careful, however, and not let a soul know anything about
it.""You must give me a hint," said I, "what this name is, and what I am to pay
him. For instance, I don't think I shall have any difficulty in keeping the
secret of the stiletto.""Certainly not," said he; "and I will tell you why. You
are a stranger in the country, and have not been here long; you have not been
long in the country; you have not been in London; therefore you cannot have
heard of the stiletto. Now, the secret of the stiletto is, that there is a
person who is concerned in it, but I have not yet discovered who it is. The
secret of the murder is that the person who is concerned in it is a man who
lives in this part of the country, and that he is known by the name of James.He
lives in a small house, which he is renting at a very respectable rate, about a
mile and a half from here, and he has a large quantity of plate, and money, and
clothes, and other articles. You must go there to-morrow, and take the first
opportunity of getting into conversation with him."I expressed myself much
obliged to the old gentleman for his information,and I told him that I would be
there early on the morrow. I was very anxious, he said, to get some information
of James, and I thanked him very much for his information. I then gave him a
paper, in which I had written the names of the people to whom the dagger
belonged, and after this I shook hands with him, and wished him good night.I got
home as quick as possible, and wrote a few lines to my mother,telling her that I
was going to the place at ten, and that I would be there at half past. I then
wrote another to my father, telling him that I was on the point of going to the
place, but that I should be there at ten.I then went to bed, and slept as
quietly as if nothing had happened.In the morning, I told the old gentleman that
I was going to the place at ten, and asked him if he would go with me. He said
that he would be very happy to accompany me, and went away. I then got up and
dressed myself,and went out to take my place in the street.I had not proceeded
far, when I met the old gentleman, and we walked on together. As we were going
along, he observed that the people were standing at the door of the house. I
remarked to him that it was rather strange, but he did not say any more.At last
we came to the door of the house, which was open. There was a crowd of people
standing about. As we drew nearer, we saw a man lying on the ground. As soon as
he saw us, he got up, and looked around him. He was dressed in a very singular
and fantastic manner, but the people did not appear to pay any attention to him.
He took his stand in the middle of the street, and began to speak."Friends,"
said he, "I will explain the whole mystery. I am the person whom you have been
in search of. You have been mistaken in your man. This man has the poniard. I am
the person who has the dagger. I have done this deed myself. I have taken the
place of the man whom you have been in search of. I am James. The other is not
the man whom you were in search of. The person who has the poniard is not the
man whom you were in search of. It is a mere trick. I will give you every
satisfaction. This is the place where I received the wound. This is the house
where I received the directions of the mysterious person."As he said this, he
advanced towards me, and held up the dagger. There was a crowd of people
standing round us, but they made no attempt to approach us. James approached me,
and I went up to him. He was the most surprised man I ever saw. He took the
poniard, which he had taken from the dead man, and handed it to me. I put it
into my pocket."Is it true," said he, "that this is the place where you are
going to take the daggers?""It is true," said I; "and now you shall see how I
will put all your wicked schemes to shame."I then took a pair of pistols out of
my pocket, and put them in my pocket. James looked at me, and then at the
daggers, and then at the people."There is nothing more to be done," said I,
"than to give the daggers to you to carry away.""You will find," said he, "that
you have been mistaken.""I will take the daggers," said I, "if it is the will of
the mysterious person to take them away.""Well," said he, "I will carry them
away myself, and if it is the will of the mysterious person to take them away,
you will find that you have been mistaken."Saying this, he went off with the
daggers, and we heard the people making a great many efforts to detain
him.CHAPTER XXI I went with the daggers to the house in the wood, where the
strange being had directed me. He did not know me, and I did not know him; and
we went up together, and he put his arm round me, and took hold of me, and led
me towards the house. We went on together, till we came to the door, when he
opened it, and we went in.The moment we got into the house, the people began to
collect round us, and to ask us questions, and one of them said that the man who
had been with him on the occasion of the murder was waiting for him in the
house,and that he was waiting for something. We all went to the room in which
the body had been laid out. The people there had no doubt but that it was that
of the unfortunate man who had been murdered. But James knew very well that he
had no right to take away the daggers, or to take them away, and he was very
much astonished at the exclamations which the people made at this. He therefore
said that he would go and see. He accordingly went into the room, and there he
found the old gentleman, the old woman, and the young lady, all of them in the
greatest consternation and distress. The old gentleman was sitting by the side
of the body of the murdered man, holding the dagger in his hand, and the young
lady was kneeling beside it, and was shedding tears and lamenting."What is the
matter, my dear madam?" said James."Oh, sir," said she, "do you know who this
man is?""Yes," said James, "I know very well who he is. I have been to see
him;but I do not know who he is. However, as it is his will that I should take
away the daggers, I will do so. I will only ask one thing, which is,whether you
have any idea of who he is?""None whatever," said she."Well, then," said he, "I
think I know the man. This is the man whom I followed to the place where he had
taken the daggers. He is the man who has been the cause of all this trouble. I
am sorry to tell you this, madam;but it is the will of the mysterious person who
inhabits the house which has brought you all into this sad state.""Oh, sir!"
said the old gentleman, who had not been able to restrain his impatience, "I
know that he is the man; I know he is the man. You will not take away the
daggers. You will not take them away. You will not do anything to displease the
mysterious person. We do not know what has become of our poor unfortunate
friends. Do take them away.""No," said James, "we will not take them away. I am
sorry to tell you that I am the person who has brought you into this distress.
You will be obliged to keep your things till I come back. But I will tell you
what you must do. You must go and call your friends. You must send the servants
in search of these persons. You must get a constable, and go and look for them.
If you find them, you must arrest them. I do not know the man who has brought
them, but I am sure he is not the person that I have come in search of. But you
must go and bring him to me. And now I must go and tell the gentleman that he
must keep what he has got in the house till I come back."The old gentleman and
the young lady said they would go with James, and that they would bring him the
person who had caused all the trouble that had taken place. They accordingly
went with James, and found that he was right in what he had said.When they
arrived at the house, they asked for the gentleman who had brought them thither.
They were shown into the room. James went up to the table and took down the
implements of the search. He then came down again, and said to the young lady
that he was going to look for the man who had brought the daggers."And I am
going with you," said the old gentleman. "You will find me at the other end of
the street. I will not be long, I am sure, and I will be back as soon as I
can."He then took the two pistols, and said he would be back soon. The old lady
said that she would be back as soon as she could."I hope, sir," said the young
lady, "that you will not be long, for we are very anxious about our
friends.""Oh! no," said the old gentleman. "I will be back in a minute, and I
will be back as soon as I can."So saying, he went out of the room, and closed
the door after him. The old gentleman walked on, the young lady followed, and
James followed last of all.James soon came to the place where the other man had
been. He had gone down to the place, and was walking slowly along, looking to
the right and the left as he went along. At length he saw the other man standing
close to the place. He was standing with his back to him, and was looking round
him."Ha!" said he, "this is the place I want. This is the place I want.Here is
the man who brought me here."So saying, he turned round, and James ran up to
him."My good friend," said James, "I have brought you the very place you
want.""Oh, sir," said the other, "that is not the place. I cannot see it. I am
afraid. I am afraid. I do not see it. I cannot see it.""You must see it," said
James. "I am afraid. It is too dark to see it. Come, let us go away."James then
turned away, but the other followed him.
